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1959 news items

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Friday 2 January 1959

‘Show people how much they can help themselves’
THEY HAVE CHOSEN CLAPHAM
To study the social problems of London
The Clapham Observer reports that an Institute for Group Studies, launched by Viennese social psychologist Richard Hauser and his wife, the pianist Hephzibah Menuhin, will work from Clapham on London’s social problems, including the recent race riots in Notting Hill. The Hausers, who have studied similar tensions in Naples and Sydney, say they chose Clapham because the area is a picture of London.

A DIAMOND WEDDING PARTY
Mr David Osborne, of Laitwood Road, Balham Hill, and his wife Louisa celebrated their diamond wedding with their family at the Clapham home of their daughter and son-in-law, Mr and Mrs Stanley Clarke.

The old lady who wouldn’t ask for help
Alice Richards, 78, of Rosenau Road, Battersea, who was knocked down and taken to hospital with a broken thigh, had been reluctant to ask anyone for help although she was living on her own.

The ‘mumbling’ lorry driver
John George Bush, 51, a street trader of Vienna Road, Battersea, was fined £5 at the South Western Court for careless driving after his lorry hit a car on Putney Bridge. He had told the court he was mumbling to himself and did not hear a warning.

Denies she abandoned children
A woman traced to Brighton, where she was living with a family as housekeeper, denied at the South Western Court that she had abandoned her three young children.

Not such good old days
Mr and Mrs Osborne, marking sixty years of marriage, told the paper that the old days were not as good as people supposed.

MAN CAUGHT BETWEEN TUBE DOORS
An eighty-year-old man was caught in the doors of a Tube train. The guard stopped the train and he was released, shaken but not badly hurt.

Prison for thefts from school
A labourer who broke into a girls’ school in Clapham and stole from the building was sent to prison at the South Western Court.

Fire below — brothers sleep on
Two brothers sleeping in a Clapham house did not wake while a fire burned in the room below. Neighbours raised the alarm and the fire brigade put it out.

Brother is accidentally shot
Two Clapham brothers were at home when one was accidentally shot. He was taken to hospital.

FORMER MAJOR GETS FOUR YEARS’ JAIL
A former major was sent to prison for four years at the County of London Sessions after a case of fraud.

SPENT HER LIFE HELPING OTHERS
Mrs Mary Clark Lawrence, who had spent her life in church and charity work, died at the age of 85. The paper records a lifetime of helping other people.

Friday 30 January 1959

It was Sunday at Bunces Ditch: The spade hit something hard
WORKMEN DIG UP LIVE BOMB
— and carry it to safety
Mr Bill Tapping, of Lynmouth Avenue, Morden, walked about 100 yards carrying an unexploded mortar bomb found by workmen on the Windsor Avenue road extension at Bunces Ditch, Merton Abbey. He threw water over the object, saw that it was a bomb intact except for the tail fin, and carried it to the corner of the road. Bomb parts had been found on the same site the week before.

The ‘ghost’ stores of Upper Green East
Passers-by have been asking for five months whether eight modern shops at Upper Green East, finished but still empty, will become ghost stores. A spokesman for Healey and Baker said only two of the shops were in negotiation. The Deputy Borough Engineer, Mr W. B. Wignall, said the shops were not being taken over because the council would allow only certain types of shop.

Chime, gentlemen, please — but do it quietly
The Ice Cream Alliance, to which about 95 per cent of Britain’s ice-cream vendors belong, has issued a code of conduct on musical vans. Mr L. Dimashio, of London Road, Mitcham, a former president of the Alliance, helped to draw it up. Most complaints have come from Glebe Estate and Pollards Hill.

Monte Carlo car hits a boulder — but finishes run
Damaged steering failed to stop Mr Colin Sproxton, of Homewood Road, Mitcham, and his co-driver finishing the Monte Carlo Rally after the car hit a boulder. He told the paper they were 66th in the general classification and 19th in class, and that they had done better in the championship.

Friday 6 February 1959

No more pigs on the allotments
Allotment holders in Batsworth Road, Mitcham, who combine horticulture with pig-keeping, are to have that part of their holding stopped. Mitcham Council decided on Thursday last week that pig-keeping must cease.

Friday 6 March 1959

An extra day this year — in spite of criticism
TEDDY BOYS AND GAMBLING DENS
That’s Mitcham Fair, says a councillor
Mitcham Fair will stay an extra day, Saturday 15 August, despite strong opposition at the council on Thursday last week. Coun. David Griffith, speaking on the Showmen’s Guild application, said the fair had lost its attraction and was a place for youths and gambling rather than children. Ald. A. Prestage said it had no social value. Coun. Jesse Stringer, who remembered the fair of fifty years ago, said it was a more gentlemanly affair now.

Council refuse MP a room
The Labour council refused to let Mitcham’s Conservative M.P., Mr Robert Carr, hire a Town Hall room once a month to meet constituents. Coun. Ernest Mills asked for the decision to be referred back, saying the request was for ratepayers and not a party matter. Coun. Frank Baker said he would have taken the same view if Labour had asked. Coun. Sidney Knight said Mr Carr had managed to meet constituents by other means for seven years.

DEBATE ON CIGARETTE MACHINE
Coun. Ernest Mills called it “petty officialdom run amok” when the council refused a Streatham Road shopkeeper permission for a cigarette machine on the pavement. The Town Planning Committee cited the Public Health (Buildings in Streets) Act, 1888. Coun. Mills asked how a cigarette machine could affect public health.

Ward switch for Coun. Byford
Coun. Henry Byford, the present Labour member for Colliers Wood Ward, is to fight a different ward in the May borough elections.

Fireman rescues baby in blaze
After getting her two sons out of a fire at her Pollards Hill home, Mrs Eileen Killingbeck collapsed when she realised her five-month-old daughter was still inside. A Croydon fireman pulled the baby, Ann, clear. None of the children was hurt. The fire started at the Ivy Gardens Nissen hut when two-year-old Antony knocked over a paraffin heater.

Man placed on bail twice
Twenty-year-old Jack Sadler, of Khartoum Road, Tooting, was released on £50 bail at Mitcham so that he could appear with others at the Surrey Quarter Sessions. He had already been on £200 bail accused of attempting to break into a Mitcham radio shop, and was also accused of driving a car without insurance.

Library scheme: Another delay
A £58,000 scheme for extensions to Mitcham’s central library in London Road is to stay suspended. The council decided on Thursday last week that the matter should be considered again at a later date. The scheme was already said to have grown to more than twice the original plan.

MINISTRY’S NO TO ONE-WAY TRAFFIC
The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation is not supporting Mitcham Council’s plan to make Armfield Crescent one-way. The divisional road engineer said a one-way road through a housing estate would be a hazard to children who look right before crossing, and that the Commissioner of Police did not think the volume of traffic merited special measures.

Radio sets stolen from homes
While two families were at work on Tuesday, a thief entered houses in Acacia Road, Mitcham, and stole radio sets. One house had been left open; at the other he got in at the back.

More bicycles being stolen
Cycle thefts in Mitcham reached a new peak this week. Police asked riders never to leave a machine unlocked, and said about ten a day were being stolen.

Blind man lectures
Members of Mitcham Youth Club heard a talk on Monday from a St Dunstan’s lecturer. He was 60-year-old Mr Robert Young, blinded in the First World War.

Pot explodes
A varnish pot exploded at Mitcham Varnish Works, Batsworth Road, on Thursday.

Friday 20 March 1959

Bringing beer to your ‘local’
Tulip line skirt to the fore
Margaret Exell’s feature in The News follows the shire horses that still deliver beer by dray, including a four-horse team completing a delivery at Ye Olde Windmill, Clapham Common, before going on to the next call. The piece describes Majestic and Majesty, the heavy horses, and farrier Mr Charles Butler.

Friday 27 March 1959

Beecham Group may take over local sweets firm
£2½ MILLION BID FOR PASCALLS
Shareholders advised to accept offer
The Beecham Group has made a £2,500,000 cash bid for James Pascall, the Mitcham sweet firm, and the directors have recommended acceptance. About 1,000 employees were told there was little doubt Pascalls would stay in Mitcham and that there might be more work if a new factory went ahead.

Ald. Chalkley may be the next Mayor
Ald. David Chalkley, 49-year-old chairman of Mitcham Housing Committee and a member of Surrey County Council, has a second chance to become Mayor. He was nominated last year but turned the offer down because of his wife’s illness. A selection committee is to choose between him and Ald. H. T. Simms.

Wanted: More keepers on the common
Mitcham Common Preservation Society wants more keepers. Members say that when the tip-up seats are closed, Teddy boys move in, and that grass has been torn up and children have been using the seats as a playground.

THE DOG WHO ROAMED IS HOME AGAIN
Peter, the wanderer, is home again. The paper prints his picture with the story of the dog who roamed.

Families who will be glad to leave their homes
SO SQUALID
Wendy Scott describes more than sixty families still living in Nissen huts in Wide Way, Mitcham, long called the borough’s black spot. There is no bathroom, the huts are damp, and families who ask to be moved are told the housing list is very long. One elderly woman has lived in a hut for more than eight years. A health clinic is being built under the huts.

Friday 10 April 1959

Raise your glass — and save twopence
Budget day brought an immediate 2d. cut in the price of beer in Mitcham public houses. Mr Frank Clements, licensee of the Red Lion, Colliers Wood, and president of the Colliers Wood Bounty old people’s club, said customers were pleased, though he had hoped spirits would be cut as well. A spokesman for Latham Brown Ltd, Western Road, hoped the cut in the tax on paint solvents would lower costs.

Lady Lewisham opens the flats
Lady Lewisham, with her eldest son William, aged 9, opened a house in London Road which has been converted into 12 flatlets for elderly people. Mitcham’s Mayor, Ald. H. T. Simms, Mr Robert Carr M.P., the town clerk Mr R. H. White, and housing chairman Ald. D. Chalkley were in the party. The invitation had come from Mitcham Old People’s Welfare Association. Mrs A. H. Shelswell, wife of the doctor who formerly owned the house, was among the guests.

Soccer death off jabs
Mitcham’s health department has had a rush of requests for polio injections for the under-25 age group. The Medical Officer of Health, Dr A. R. Graham, said there was little doubt the rush followed the death from polio of footballer Jeff Hall. Local doctors had asked for 40 doses, far above the usual order.

Friday 17 April 1959

Tenants afraid to let children out after dark
TEENAGE GANGS TERRORISE FLATS
Battersea Council act after complaints
Tenants of Farrant House, Winstanley Road, Battersea, told the Clapham Observer it was not safe to let children out after dark because teenage gangs had been terrorising the block for more than three months. Bricks were thrown, windows smashed and drains blocked. Battersea Council was acting on the complaints.

Heidi’s Club must close by July 1
A deadline of 1 July has been imposed by London County Council for the closing of Heidi’s Club, Albert Square, Stockwell. The owner, Mr P. R. H. S. Greene, has been told the club must shut.

Woman of 79 fell in fire
Mrs Gwendoline Gardner, 79, fell into the fire at her home in Southwark and was badly burned. She was taken to hospital.

Vic Rouse, from Stonhouse St., plays for Wales
Vic Rouse, the 21-year-old Crystal Palace goalkeeper from Stonhouse Street, Clapham, has been chosen to play for Wales against Ireland in Belfast.

ROBERT, 14, FINDS DISUSED WELL
Fourteen-year-old Robert Paskins found an old well while out with a friend. He was not in danger, and the find was reported.

Friday 24 April 1959

Up the flag — and down the hatch
A flag was hoisted to the chimney of the partly built Pollard Oak public house on Monday, and the 24 workmen on the site drank a toast. They were given a nine-gallon barrel. The new house replaces a prefabricated public house put up as a temporary measure after the war. The licence will be held by Mrs Edith Eagers, and the new Pollard Oak will have a bar which can also be used as an assembly hall.

A plea for economic rents
Council tenants should pay an economic rent for their homes, and there should be no Croydon-style means test in Mitcham, Coun. W. F. M. Townsend told an adoption meeting on Wednesday last week.

Friday 8 May 1959

The cost of upkeep is too much, say Surrey County Council
EAGLE HOUSE WILL CLOSE TODAY
Goodbye to the only local nursery
Eagle House nursery, on the edge of Mitcham Common, closes today because Surrey County Council says the cost of upkeep is too much. Mothers who used it called it one of the few places of its kind in the district. What would happen to the house had not been decided.

THE MOST POPULAR CONTEST OF THEM ALL
Entries were still coming in for Mitcham’s Personality Girl competition, to be crowned by a television personality at the Majestic. The paper prints photographs of entrants, including Jill Cooper and Yvonne Terry.

Friday 15 May 1959

Dramatic end to two-day trek across country
SCOUTS HELP SAVE BEAUTY SPOT
They find a plantation blazing
Four Mitcham scouts and their scoutmaster, on the way home from a two-day trek, fought a plantation fire near Frensham Ponds, Surrey, after one of the boys spotted a spiral of smoke. The fire brigade commended them. The party was led by Scoutmaster Patrick Burke.

Bakery raider pockets £10
A thief walked into a bakery in London Road, Mitcham, and left with about £10 from the till.

Albert the town crier drops a clanger
Albert, Mitcham’s town crier, dropped his bell while crying a notice and the clapper came away. He finished the cry without it.

THERE’S ONLY ONE MORE WEEK TO GO
Only seven days remained for entries to the Mitcham Personality Girl contest, which closed the following Thursday, 21 May. Judging was to be at the Majestic, and the winner was to lead the carnival on 20 June.

Children injured in stove flare-up
A nine-year-old girl pulled a pan of hot fat over herself, and two younger children were also hurt, when a stove flared in a Mitcham home. All three were treated in hospital.

United’s pitch is being renovated
Tooting and Mitcham United’s pitch was being renovated after complaints about the playing surface.

Marriage ‘only for upper class’
Bill Roe, of Mitcham, told a debate that marriage was becoming something only the upper class could afford.

Friday 22 May 1959

Council investigate, say Eldertree Way
WHY RED DUST IN MITCHAM
Residents in Eldertree Way asked the council to find where red dust on their homes was coming from. They blamed Beck Meters’ factory. Coun. William Dungate, asked by the Long Thornton and Tamworth Residents’ Association to raise it, said a north-east wind brought a strong smell and that he sometimes walked a longer way home to avoid it.

Personality Girl Contest
RECORD BID — NOW FOR WINNER
So many entries arrived for the Personality Girl contest, which closed on Thursday, that two evenings of preliminary judging were needed, on 9 and 11 June, before the final at the Mitcham Majestic on 12 June. Mitcham Round Table, the sponsors, were delighted. The carnival procession on Saturday 20 June, in aid of Wilson and Wandle Valley Hospitals, was to be headed by the winner and her attendants.

PROUD OLD LADY SEES HER SON BECOME MAYOR
An 89-year-old lady sat in the public seats at Wandsworth Town Hall on Wednesday and watched her son become Mayor of London’s largest borough. Coun. Thomas Victor Rowlands was elected Mayor. His mother said it was a wonderful moment.

Club idea for Eagle House
A suggestion that Eagle House, the London Road nursery which Surrey is closing, might be converted into a boys’ club was made during the week.

They revived gassed woman, get awards
A Clapham car crew were given Royal Humane Society awards for reviving a woman they found gassed, and for trying to revive her husband, who died.

Friday 29 May 1959

A MESSAGE FROM THE NEW MAYOR
That civic spirit must be fostered
Ald. David Walter Chalkley was elected Mayor of Mitcham on Thursday last week and was described as a man with more than average ability and a great flair for public work. He said he would stand for the newly elected councillors, their families, and the town’s civic spirit. The proposal was seconded by Ald. A. C. Prestage.

DEATH OF MR. A. H. BAILEY
Mr A. H. Bailey, former mayor, Boer War veteran and campaigner for a better Mitcham, died on Friday after a short illness. He was 82. He came to the district in 1909, was chairman of the urban district council in 1926, an alderman from 1937, and Mayor in 1944. The paper says Mitcham’s two secondary schools owed much to his efforts. His funeral was on Wednesday at South London Crematorium.

More young voluntary workers are needed
Speaking of his work during the past year, Mitcham’s retiring Mayor, Ald. H. T. Simms, said on Thursday last week that it was heartening to see so much voluntary work, and that more young people were needed.

No date fixed for start on smoke-free zone
Although Wallington and Beddington were already on the way to becoming a smoke-control area, Mitcham Council has told the Minister of Housing that it cannot yet say when its own scheme will start.

LACK OF SUPPORT CLOSES GROUP
The Mitcham branch of the Workers’ Educational Association is to close through lack of support, although it had been successful financially. Only a few members attended during the year.

Take-over bid for cemetery
A take-over bid for the Great Southern Cemetery Company, of which Mr Tom Bage was an officer, was reported. The cemetery, opened some 80 years earlier, was said to be the subject of an offer.

EX-PETTY OFFICER ‘WENT OVER EDGE’
Driving down Shipka Road, Balham, two policemen found 76-year-old Samuel Mountstephen, of Zennor Road, Balham, a retired naval petty officer, throwing rubbish from a stationary refuse lorry into the road, with a handcart and two prams lined up beside it. At the South Western Court on Saturday he was fined £2 for obstruction and using obscene language on 30 April.

Scheme to aid old people
Wandsworth Old People’s Welfare Committee heard Dr M. S. Kataria, of St Francis Hospital, Camberwell, describe a scheme in which an old person is chosen for a six-week stay in hospital so that the relatives who look after them can have a rest. He said the relatives’ rest was the most important part of the scheme.

30 maisonnettes planned
Thirty maisonnettes and two flats are to be built in London Road, Mitcham, near Mitcham Station, on a site formerly occupied by factory premises. The cost to the council will be about £82,000, and work will start soon.

Friday 5 June 1959

The strongroom proved to be too tough for them
RAIDERS BLAST WAY INTO BANK
— and then leave EMPTY-HANDED
Raiders who entered Lloyds Bank, Upper Green, Mitcham, over the weekend tried to burn their way into the strongroom with oxy-acetylene gear and went away empty-handed. A C.I.D. spokesman said they seemed very inexperienced. Early reports put £50,000 in the strongroom. They cut the bars of a ground-floor window, used a lavatory, and left two almost empty oxygen cylinders. The manager, Mr J. G. Turner, said the raiders did not seem to have been Teddy boys, and that the office had not been ransacked.

RED DUST MYSTERY SOLVED
The red dust that puzzled people in Eldertree Way came from Beck Meters, Lilian Road, Mitcham’s chief public health inspector Mr K. J. Gutteridge reported. The dust was iron oxide, so fine that the factory probably did not notice it leaving through the shot-blasting filters. Beck Meters promised to do their best to stop it. Coun. William Dungate had asked the council on Monday to investigate.

A half-hour wait for motorists
On fine weekends, traffic in Croydon Road, Mitcham, is so heavy that drivers trying to get into Beddington Road and Windmill Road sometimes wait half an hour. Members of the Long Thornton and Tamworth Residents’ Association are asking for traffic lights or a policeman at the junction.

Taken to hospital
After a collision with a car in London Road, Mitcham, on Sunday, 84-year-old Mrs Florence Shepherd, of Barrow Avenue, Carshalton Beeches, was taken to hospital with a fractured right arm and a suspected broken jaw.

Personality Girl final next week
Mitcham’s Personality Girl will be crowned by television personality Daniel Negley Farson at the Mitcham Majestic on Friday 12 June. Two semi-finals were held at the Majestic. Thursday’s semi-finalists, chosen on Monday, were Merle Baines, Sheila Cussens, Jill Cooper, Brenda Gibbs, Carol Jackson, Georgina McManus, Maureen Marker and Yvonne Terry. The judges on Monday were Mr J. B. Pritchard for Mitcham Round Table, Miss Libby, matron of Wilson Hospital, and Mrs Margaret Charles for the Mitcham News and Mercury.

Trades Council deputation to factory
Mitcham Trades Council agreed to send a three-man deputation to a factory after members said cement dust, if concentrated enough, could be injurious. An open invitation had been extended to members to visit the works.

FIRE AT PAINT FACTORY
Firemen with breathing apparatus stopped a blaze spreading among cellulose at Hadfields varnish and paint factory, Western Road, Mitcham, on Friday. A foam tender stood by. The fire, in a production room, was found by a security watchman and was out after two hours. Production was interrupted “to a certain extent.”

Man, 74, fell from hut roof
A 74-year-old man was seriously injured when he fell eight feet from the roof of a hut he was painting, onto a concrete floor, at Franciscan Road, Tooting, last week. Mr Sydney Eveleigh, of West Gardens, Colliers Wood, was detained at St James’s Hospital, Balham, with a fractured pelvis.

LAMP EXPLODES
A gas street lamp in Langdale Avenue, Mitcham, exploded on Thursday last week. A jet of flame flared from a broken pipe until Gas Board engineers arrived. Firemen stood by.

Lost job after 26 years
Arthur King, aged 40, of Sherwood Road, Mitcham, who had worked at Hackbridge Cables for 26 years, lost his job as a machine operator after he admitted stealing a tin of copper wire. He said it was scrap and that he wanted it for a fence at home. A representative of the firm said he had been a good worker and that they were sorry to dismiss him.

HE STOLE FACE CREAM
A device to take jars of face cream from a shop, hidden in a man’s raincoat pocket, was spotted by store detectives. Patrick Gordon Glass, a metal polisher, of Grove Road, Mitcham, who pleaded guilty, was conditionally discharged at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Friday 21 August 1959

Canoe capsizes during sudden storm in Austria
MAN IS RESCUED FROM LAKE
Ten-minute ordeal in icy water
Alan Frost, 23, a Pollards Hill estate surveyor, was rescued from a lake in Austria after his canoe capsized in a sudden storm. He was in the water for about ten minutes. His friend, who raised the alarm, pulled him out. Mr Frost was taken to hospital suffering from exposure and later came home to Seventeenth Close.

CRICKET BAT MYSTERY
Workmen converting the stables at “The Croft,” an old Commonside East house, into nurses’ homes found an old cricket bat and ball built into a weather vane, and asked if anyone knew the story. Grocer Mr Fred Tyler said they were supposed to have been put there by a famous cricketer who once lived in the house. Ald. Tom Ruff thought the house had belonged to Frederick Gale, the cricket writer “Old Buffer,” who died about 1910. The Mitcham Cricket Club secretary, Mr J. H. Stainforth, said he knew nothing of it, but that the club might like the bat if it had any historical value.

‘Socialists can still win’
Mr Robert Carr, Mitcham’s Conservative M.P., told party members that the margin between success and failure was small and that a General Election might come as soon as October. “The Socialists can still win if they work harder and more conscientiously than we do,” he said.

Friday 4 September 1959

ROSE COTTAGE WAS NOT ALWAYS SO QUIET
Peter Wilson tells the ghost story of Rose Cottage, opposite Three Kings Pond, Mitcham, once the home of James Canham Read, hanged for the murder of Florence Dennis in 1894. Read was arrested at the cottage. The present occupant, 82-year-old Mrs Ellis Burton, says a woman in grey has been seen in the passage, and that workmen found a well under the floorboards and filled it in. She says nothing unusual happens there now.

Thief steals clothes
A thief stole a pair of boots and a leather jacket from the Morden Road, Mitcham, premises of Hall and Co. Ltd on Monday, and a suit, raincoat and other small items from the firm’s office block. The goods were worth £20.

Industrial Mitcham
Mitcham has over 300 factories, carrying on a great variety of industries, says the borough’s 1958 health report.

Child cruelty
Thirty child-cruelty cases were dealt with in Mitcham last year.

Friday 25 September 1959

Ex-valuation officer’s rating appeal dismissed
Mr Leonard Munday, valuation officer for Mitcham from 1928 until 1947, failed to get a further cut in the rating assessment on his house at Crescent Grove. In a reserved decision in London, Mr R. C. G. Fennell dismissed the appeal against a local valuation court decision which had already reduced the gross value by £2 to £54. Mr Munday, who said the house was in an area planned for industry, had asked for a gross value of £38. He was ordered to pay the valuation officer a guinea costs.

Friday 9 October 1959

The dry weather will not harm flats
Flats at Pollards Hill, one of the few parts of Mitcham built on clay, are not likely to be harmed by the dry weather, the Deputy Borough Engineer, Mr W. B. Wignall, said on Monday. The foundations are special piles which go down to where the clay does not change its moisture. Most of Mitcham is terraced gravel. He said he had not heard of any trouble from the heat anywhere in the borough, except that the hard ground at Pollards Hill was making things difficult for footballers.

Big shortage of school places by 1963 feared
The front page carries a warning of a big shortage of school places by 1963 under Surrey’s major building programme. The rest of the column is cut off in the photograph.

Friday 23 October 1959

Children, not enough recreational facilities
NOT BAD, IT’S JUST …
The front page takes up complaints from the youth on Pollards Hill estate about the lack of somewhere to go. One youngster said things would be easier if there was somewhere to let off steam. The Mayor, Ald. D. Chalkley, is pictured at the Willow Lane depot of Hall and Co. presenting safe-driving awards to the firm’s lorry drivers.

Mr. Carr’s firm is taken over
John Dale Ltd, the container makers of which Mitcham’s M.P., Mr Robert Carr, is chairman, is to be taken over by a holding company, Winterbottom Industries. Mr Carr had resigned the Parliamentary Under-Secretaryship of the Ministry of Labour to go back into the firm, which is his family business.

GOLFERS DISCUSS BRIDGE PROBLEM
Mitcham Golf Club was to meet the following week to discuss a bridge problem on the course.

Friday 30 October 1959

GREEN LIGHT FOR WANDLE SCHEME
And then — no more floods
The Ministry of Agriculture has agreed to the River Wandle improvement scheme, and the Ministry has offered a grant. The paper says the £440,000 scheme, planned to stop flooding, can now go ahead, and that the Ministry will meet a third of the cost.

Friday 6 November 1959

Veteran run
For the third year running, Mr F. E. Manning drove his 1900 Benz over the finishing line in the veteran car run to Brighton, and got back to Mitcham Park in time to see himself on the television newsreel. He crossed the line at 2.30 p.m. Traffic was heavy, so there was no spectacular time; the only stop was for lunch, and the car behaved perfectly. His 17-year-old son Butch stayed at home. The weather was good this year.

Rally time
Sheila Shaw
Western flavour was added to a rally of old coaches at Commercial Road. Sheila Shaw’s “Surrey with the fringe on top” still finished among the top twenty, although a pair of greys advertising cigarettes took first prize.

New headmaster
On Friday the boys at Mitcham Grammar School said goodbye to their headmaster, Mr G. J. P. Courtney. After seven years, Mr Courtney, aged 43, took over on Monday as headmaster of Isleworth Grammar School. Head boy Terry Lewis presented him with gramophone records of Bach’s Passion, and the staff gave him a coffee table.

Friday 13 November 1959

PLANS FOR FAIR
Surrey County Council has been sent Mitcham’s plans for the fair. The paper also shows the sign of the Pollard Oak being unveiled at the opening of Mitcham’s new public house, with the Mayor, Ald. D. Chalkley, among the party.

This road is too much for traders
Traders say Glebe Path is a topsy-turvy place when it comes to delivering goods, because there are two of each house number. Fourteen Mitcham Council maisonettes in Glebe Square have their front doors facing Glebe Path, and the Path’s own numbers run from No. 1 upwards as well. Coal meant for a home in Glebe Path has turned up at Glebe Square.

Friday 20 November 1959

Tried to sell bracelets in a pub
An off-duty policeman saw a man trying to sell two bracelets in a Mitcham public house. Alfred Lundie, 27, of Sugar Boiler, Sunshine Way, Mitcham, told him: “I got it from a bloke at work with no questions asked.” He was charged with receiving two marcasite bracelets knowing them to be stolen. He said he had been given them during a tea break at Randalls confectionery works and did not know they were stolen. The chairman, Mr E. Field, gave him a conditional discharge and told him he had been extremely foolish.

Thief crash
A try-and-try-again thief who ransacked a Cricket Green house under cover of fog escaped with jewellery and other property worth £150, the front page reports.

Friday 27 November 1959

Angry passengers ask the reason for those long delays
‘GIVE US BETTER BUS SERVICES’
The Clapham Observer says bus services on routes through Clapham have never been so poor, and that an all-out bid is being made to get London Transport to improve them. A Clapham Society letter complained of peak-hour waits of 20 minutes. London Transport said many routes were short of crews and that the problem was shared by about 40 routes.

While minding the baby he helped to catch a thief
Police-constable James Raymond, sitting in a car minding an 18-month-old baby, still helped to catch a thief. He chased a man who had snatched a bag, while the baby waited in the car, and the man was later sentenced to prison.

Nowhere to put 40 slum families
Battersea Council has virtually nowhere to put about 40 families whose slum homes are being pulled down. The housing committee was told the waiting list and the lack of sites left the council with a problem it could not solve quickly.

75 years in the choir — that’s Tom
Tom Gibbs has sung in the choir at St Philip’s, Clapham, for 75 years. He was still attending and told the paper he had no thought of giving it up.

Dr. Glyn gives a pledge
Dr Alan Glyn, M.P. for Clapham, speaking to the Clapham Conservative Association, pledged his support for local housing and transport complaints.

Lift crushed laundryman
A verdict of accidental death was returned at the Westminster inquest on Frederick William Donald, a laundryman crushed in a goods lift at the Chelsea Inn Restaurant.

Better lighting for more than 120 roads
Mitcham will be lit up all night
Better lighting is planned for more than 120 Mitcham roads. The council is due to start Stage 15 of the programme to replace gas lamps with electricity. Nearly all Mitcham will now be lit from dusk to dawn, after the council instructed the London Electricity Board to alter switches so that the lamps burn all night. Roads listed include Arnold Road, Commonside East, Glebe Road, Pollards Hill names such as Robinhood Lane, and many others from Ashbourne Road to Westfield Road.

Married on Saturday
Mr William Hawkins, aged 78, and Mrs Mary Draper, aged 72, both members of Mitcham Old People’s Club, were married on Saturday. The club gave them surprise gifts before the wedding.

Cyclist injured
Eighteen-year-old cyclist Bernard Mayer, of Middleton Road, Carshalton, broke a leg and received cuts to his head and severe chest injuries.

Friday 4 December 1959

SCHEME TO EASE TRAFFIC JAMS
One-way plans for London Road
Three ease-the-jams schemes were before Mitcham Council on Thursday last week. Plan one would make London Road one-way between the two branches of Lower Green West, with possibly three lines of traffic outside the Town Hall. Sutton-bound traffic would turn into Lower Green and come back by the second fork. The Ministry of Transport will not allow the widening of Cricket Green and London Road, or two traffic lanes in each direction, until the Limes are widened. Plan two is the Eastfields level crossing, which the council was told was of extreme urgency. Plan three is a black spot at the junction of London Road and Morden Road.

Psychologist service for the schools
Surrey County Council’s education committee has accepted a recommendation that a school psychological service be set up within the existing child-guidance service. The establishment committee was asked to allow six more educational psychologists and six psychiatric social workers. Seven of those appointments have already been allowed for next year’s estimates.

They won’t be ‘ghost shops’ any more
Alterations are to be made to Fair Green so that the empty shops will not stay “ghost shops.” The council was told the work should stop the parade standing vacant.

Different hours for flying
Mitcham model-aircraft enthusiasts who fly at Three Kings Piece are being grounded on Sundays, after complaints during the summer about noise. The new hours will be between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.; previously they were between 2.30 and 9.30 p.m. The only other days allowed at Three Kings Piece are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Model planes are banned from other open council spaces except Figges Marsh and Rock Terrace Recreation Ground.

17 accidents at the baths
Although admissions to Mitcham Baths during the swimming season were a record, there were only 17 accidents, all minor. The previous year there were 20. Most were caused by bathers slipping on the edge of the pool or running on wet surrounds. The baths superintendent, Mr C. P. Walker, said in last week’s report that there had been an increased interest in swimming and in the facilities.

Growing up in Mitcham in the 1950s And 1960s

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The following has been kindly provided by Jeff Brooks, which is his own account of growing up in Mitcham in the 1950s And 1960s.

I was born in The Woodlands Maternity Home in Devonshire Road, Colliers Wood, in July 1952. The Home was opened in 1924 and, in 1938, the staff comprised a Matron, two Sisters, two Staff Nurses and three Pupil Midwives. It closed in 1971 . The site is now occupied by The Woodlands House Care and Nursing Home. Apparently, I was born on a boarded-over bath as the “ birthing “ beds were all in use ! Seven years after the end of World War II, these were often grey and difficult times in Mitcham and the rest of the UK – food rationing did not end until 1954.

Just five months after I was born,” The Great Smog of London “ enveloped Mitcham and many other parts of the metropolis. The “ pea-souper ” lasted from Friday 9th. December until Tuesday 13th. December. Contemporaneous figures estimated the number of people killed as a result of the smog at c. 4,000 but more recent estimates give the number at c. 10,000 – c. 12,000. Many others suffered respiratory problems. I ( understandably ) do not remember this event but was probably coughing in my pram. The Clean Air Act of 1956 introduced measures to reduce air pollution and to increase the use of smokeless fuels but it took a number of years for these to have significant effect.

My family home during the 1950s and 1960s was at 94, London Road, Mitcham, opposite Figges Marsh, between Crusoe Road and Pitcairn Road. The three storeyed Edwardian house ( originally 14, Sibthorp Terrace / Villas before re-numbering in the 1930s ), had been rented by my mother’s family, the McKenzies, for many years. Indeed, my mother had been born in the house in 1920. The top floor and part of the middle floor were always sub-let to a variety of lodgers. I can clearly recall being entrusted to walk to the agents, Leonard, Davey and Hart, at The Fair Green, to pay the monthly rent, holding very tightly on to the old pound and, maybe, ten shilling, notes. A visit to Leonard, Davey and Hart was like stepping back into the Victorian era – dark wood panelling, an oppressive atmosphere and a single clerk in the outer office sitting behind a sturdy wooden desk laden with ledgers. This clerk only had one arm ( I always supposed that the other had been lost in WW II ) and he had difficulty in tearing the rent receipt off at the perforated edge. I wondered whether to offer to help him but was too scared to ask and I left the office as quickly as I could and returned to the twentieth century.

Originally, the terrace of houses covered the whole space between Crusoe and Pitcairn Roads but those at the northern end were destroyed by enemy bombs during World War II and replaced by new housing, as were the houses between Pitcairn Road and Swains Road. A resident of 9, Pitcairn Road, was killed as a result of enemy action on 25th. September 1940. Opposite the McKenzie house, on Figges Marsh, was an air raid shelter which was not demolished until the 1970s.

The house next door to 94, number 96, housed the local doctor’s surgery on the ground floor. The entrance was in Crusoe Road. In the 1910/11 Street Directory the surgery of the house ( then 15, Sibthorpe Terrace and named “ Oakdene “ ) was occupied by Williams Wm. Archelaus, Physician and Surgeon. Doctors that I recall in the 1960s are Dr. Canning and Dr. Stroud. There was no appointment system in those days – it was first come, first served. The long, narrow waiting room had two rows of chairs facing each other. On arrival, a patient took the first chair available. When a bell rang, signifying a doctor’s availability, the patient at the front of the seated queue entered the surgery and everyone else, coughing and spluttering, shuffled along one seat. A perfect environment for the spreading of germs !

My earliest memory is of falling off my tricycle on a path on Figges Marsh when I was, probably, about three years old. I have vague memories of milk and, maybe, bread being delivered by horse-drawn carts. Certainly, Youngs Brewery beer was delivered to The Gorringe Park Arms pub just a couple of hundred yards away at Tooting Junction by dray horses at the time. Most daily beer deliveries by horse stopped in 1997, although pubs in and around Wandsworth continued to be served by horse-drawn carts until the Brewery closed in 2006. As I was growing up, I often wondered why Tooting Junction was so-called as it was not a railway junction. Some years later, I learnt that it was once a junction with a separate line to Wimbledon via Merton Abbey Station in addition to the line via Haydons Road. The station was renamed as Tooting in 1934 but the term , “ the Junction “, remained in use by the local community.

Shopping was “ up the Junction “, some shops on the Mitcham side of the border ( which runs along the course of the River Graveney ) and some on the Tooting side. The first supermarket in the vicinity was Victor Value, in Mitcham Road, Tooting which opened in the late 1950s. Victor Value stores were predominantly based in C2 ( skilled working class) and D ( working class ) categories of the demographic classification used in the UK. The company sold its outlets to Tesco in 1968. Much of our family’s shopping was undertaken in Genery’s Store in Grenfell Road, Mitcham – my parents’ first home, after their marriage in 1940, was in the first floor flat above the shop. As a youngster I was allowed by Rose Genery to operate, under supervision, the ham slicing machine behind the counter. Little reference to Health and Safety ! Rose also allowed me to take a biscuit, usually a Bourbon, from the sack of mixed biscuits on the floor.

In line with the majority of the adult population at the time, both of my parents were smokers. I was regularly sent to Ward’s on the corner of London Road and Arnold Road ( later managed by the unforgettably named Harry Bender ) or Baker’s on London Road near to the turning for Finborough Road for 20 Kensitas cigarettes ( and a couple of packets of Trebor Mints ) for my mother and a half an ounce of Old Holborn and a packet of Rizla papers for my father. No age restrictions then on purchases. Maybe, if I had been good, I could also purchase a bar of Crunchie or Fry’s Five Boys chocolate for me.

My father, Ray, was a Vitreous Enameller, working in the Stewart and Gray factory in Swains Road (sometimes known as Lane) . He worked long shifts ( 6.00 am – 6.00pm ) and , sometimes, night shifts ( 6.00pm – 6.00 am ). An early memory of mine is of rushing down to the factory on my Mobil scooter to meet him from a day shift and being allowed to stamp his card, 6.01 pm, in the clocking in/out machine. At weekends he was able to take me around the site, showing me the furnaces, the wind tunnel, the Paint Shop and the Frit Shop ( frit is a mixture of fused materials, such as silica, used in enamel making ). I was also able to watch him lean over a huge vat of acid ( don’t know what acid it was ! ) and lower a string bag of dirty old pennies in and see them emerge shining bright and golden. Magic! I don’t recall a lot of Health and Safety in operation at the time! Stewart and Gray relocated to Wellingborough in Northamptonshire in the late 1960s.

As with most women at the time, my mother, Dorothy, did not work during the 1950s and early 1960s , apart from a few hours on a Saturday afternoon in the tea bar at the local amateur football club, Tooting and Mitcham United in Sandy Lane. I believe that for each shift at the ground (probably 1.15pm- 4.15pm ) she was paid 7/6d. ( 37 1/2p ), which she considered to be her “ pin money “. I fondly remember, especially on cold afternoons, going in to the tea bar, with my good friend, Richard, to get a crafty free hot blackcurrant juice and, if lucky, a couple of Rich Tea or Ginger Nut biscuits. Later in the 1960s, my mother worked part-time in Pascall’s Sweet Factory and the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society’s bakery, both factories in Streatham Road, and J F Renshaw and Co. Ltd., in Locks Lane. Fond memories of misshapen sweets from Pascall’s, hot bread from the RACS bakery and macaroons and, sometimes, petit fours from Renshaws. I also had a spell, as a “ Saturday boy “, cleaning the floors and ovens, in the RACS bakery in 1967/68. I recall that my first wage packet for an 8-hour day ( 8.00am – 4.00pm ) was 29/6d. ( £1-47 ½ p ) and being affronted to learn that I had to pay a few pence in National Insurance contributions. My wages were collected from the Pay Office where, just a few years earlier, in 1962, an RACS employee had been shot and killed in an armed robbery ( George Thatcher was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang but this was commuted to life imprisonment and he served 18 years in prison ). None of the factories where my mother and I worked survived to the present day.

My mother’s Saturday afternoons at Sandy Lane engendered in me a life-long passion for the football club and I spent many hours on the terraces during the 1960s. I was considered to be too young to attend the big FA Cup matches of the 1958/59 season ( Pathe News highlights of the win against Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic and the draw against First Division Nottingham Forest are available on YouTube), but my older brother, Graham, was there and my mother was in the tea bar serving the thousands ( 14,300 for the Forest game ) of spectators. The club was formed by the amalgamation in 1932 of Tooting Town FC (founded in 1887) and Mitcham Wanderers FC (founded in 1912). The ground had previously been part of a market garden and Tooting Town FC acquired some onions on purchase – these were dug up and sold for 7/6d, (37 1/2p ) – it has been recorded that this item was recorded on the 1922/23 Club balance sheet as the first contribution to the Ground Improvement Fund ! As the merged club’s ground had previously been occupied by Tooting Town the new united name had “ Tooting “ preceding “Mitcham” despite being located in Mitcham and M preceding T in the alphabet ! The, previously mentioned, Harry Bender displayed posters of the club’s forthcoming matches in his shop and, not being a follower of football, generously gave the season ticket he received for the advertisement to me ! The club relocated from Sandy Lane to Bishopsford Road in 2002 and four of the streets on the housing development built on the old site were named after famous Tooting and Mitcham United players – Hasty Close, Slade Way, Pearson Way and Stepney Close. The move saw the club formally leave Mitcham, as the new location is just over the border (along the course of the River Wandle) into Morden. I have written two books about the club – “Tooting On the Move – A Farewell to Sandy Lane, Home of Tooting and Mitcham United FC from 1922 – 2002” ( published in 2002 , currently out of print ), and “ We Woz Robbed In ‘59 – A Record of Tooting and Mitcham United FC’s Epic 1958/59 Season, set to a background of social events of the time “ ( published in 2018 , still available, cover price £10-00 – contact me on brooksjeff18@aol.com for details ).

My education began at Bond Road School in 1957 – no nursery or pre-school for me. The Primary School Head Teacher was the memorably named Miss Crang. Her counterpart in the Junior School was Mr. Shelton, who would “ slipper “ ( one step down from a caning ) children, including me on occasions, for misdemeanours. Other teachers I recall were Miss Clarke, Mrs. Singer and Mr. Ebenezer ( known as “ the bald-headed geezer “ ). Although The Clean Air Act was on the statute book , I can recall walking home along London Road in thick, unpleasant smogs, feeling my way along the fences of houses to ensure that I did not stray into the road ( the last London smog took place in December 1962 ) and being instructed by my mother to close the front door quickly to keep the smelly, yellow wisps of smog out of the house. Even so, some always seemed to penetrate into the hallway. Walks home were usually more pleasant, especially in the Summer months, with the floral displays at Tamworth Farm Recreation Ground ( more commonly known as just “The Rec. “ ). As I walked past Monarch Parade I tried, with little success, to envisage The Holborn Industrial Schools which had been built on the site in 1856 as part of the Mitcham Workhouse complex and which my mother remembered and had described to me. The buildings were demolished in the early 1930s. Opposite the Schools was St. George’s Pond – this must have been drained at about the same time as the Schools were demolished. On this site, Mitcham Public Library was built and opened in May 1933. I have special memories of the separate Children’s Library on the Armfield Crescent side of the Library, where my passionate and life-long love of books and literature began.

One day in 1961, Routemaster buses were being introduced on the 220 route through Mitcham to West Croydon ( they had been used on other routes in London since 1956). This was an exciting event and I waited to get one, letting plenty of “ ordinary “ buses pass. I arrived at school late and was, I am sure, suitably reprimanded. The 220 diesel bus had replaced the 630 trolleybus in July 1960. Other buses I could get along London Road were the 44, the 64, the 77, the 80 and the 88. If I chose to walk home, I could use my bus fare in Mayhew’s, near the London Road entrance/exit to Bond Road School, and choose a liquorice sweet from the “ penny tray “.

One of my proudest memories of Bond Road School is of being selected for the 1962/63 school football team. I recall being taken to Tring’s Sports Shop in Monarch Parade to be measured up for the kit – white shirts, black shorts. I am sure that a team photograph was taken but, alas, I do not have a copy. Matches against local schools were played on midweek afternoons and I was always pleased when my class’s lesson was interrupted for the names of the boys ( sadly, no girls’ teams in those days ) who were playing to be called out. The first halves of matches were played in front of few spectators ( maybe some Mums and Dads ) but, by the time the second half commenced, the school day had ended and the touchlines were packed with noisy children, lustily chanting “ 2-4-6-8, Who do we appreciate ? , B-O-N-D, Bond ! “. I still have my hand-written record of matches played that season – victories versus The Star School, St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s, Links Road, St. Mark’s and a draw and a loss to Fortescue Road. It is likely that the number of matches played was lower than most seasons due to “ The Great Freeze” of 1963 ( ice and snow in London from 26th December 1962 until 6th March 1963 ). In the Mitcham Schools Cup competition, Bond Road lost to Pollard’s Hill – this was a big disappointment to me as the Final was always played at the Sandy Lane ground of Tooting and Mitcham United FC with its large grandstand and banks of concrete terracing. My regret must have been somewhat assuaged as the Borough’s Annual Sports Day was also held at the ground and I do recall running in a race there. I must have done OK at Bond Road School as I passed the 11-Plus examination in 1963 and moved to Mitcham County Grammar School for Boys on Commonside East.

I enjoyed my time at the Grammar School, despite having to wear short trousers for the first term and a cap until the age of 16 ! In retrospect, it seemed to operate more like a public ( ie. private ! ) school than a state school. There was a big emphasis on academic achievement, discipline and hierarchy. Teachers were known as Masters, often wearing gowns, and fellow pupils addressed by surname only. In addition to Masters, discipline was enforced by Prefects and by Senior Prefects who, like Masters, were also entitled to wear gowns ( I made it to Prefect status, with gold braid around the edges of my blazer, but never attained the Senior level ). Hair length and adherence to the uniform policy were strictly monitored. Nicknames were prevalent – Masters such as “ Boggy “ Marsh, “ Hum “ Harper, “ Slag “ Dixon, “ Taffy “ Greenall, “ Spike “ Richards and “ Scruff “ Purbrick as well as the Headmaster, “Crippen” ( after the notorious murderer ) Bingham. Mr. Boagey needed no nickname. All the teachers were male and addressed as “ Sir “ – until Frau Schmidt arrived to teach German ! I clearly remember “ Crippen “ ordering me to get my hair cut when it was just touching my collar and, obediently, going to the barbers’ straight after school.

I represented the school at Athletics and Tennis but the real accolade was to be picked for the Rugby Team and I was proud to be selected and to wear the green and lavender hooped shirts. Sadly for me, football was not formally played at the school but every break-time saw a tennis ball being kicked around in the playground and every lunchtime saw a few informal, and fiercely contested, kick-abouts on Mitcham Common near The Three Kings’ Piece. However, there was one football match which took place near The Mill House on the Common in March 1969 – Staff v School ! I was selected for the School team. A report was included in the 1969 edition of the Yearbook, “ The Mitchamian “, written by teacher, “ Syd “ Perks ( “Syd “ was more like “ one of the boys “ than a Master ). The report details a 2-1 victory for the Staff under the headline “ Staff Pulverise School “. Apparently, “ at the final whistle three cheers were given by the dejected school team for the winners “ but I don’t remember this ! One sporting activity I didn’t enjoy was cross-country running on the Common. The agony was often slightly ameliorated by surreptitious calls at a friend’s house on Commonside East for a quick and refreshing lemonade or orange juice ! And, at least, the final stretch was downhill along the Beehive Bridge.

Our rugby matches were played on the Playing Fields in London Road, near (then) Mitcham Station and (now) Mitcham Tram Stop, behind Baron, Fenning and Gedge Courts. This was a fair walk from Commonside East, down Cold Blows, past the Cricket Green and along London Road. At the time, the school also used the facilities now occupied by The Toby Carvery at Park Place, Commonside West for athletics, cricket and tennis. This was still known as “The News of The World Sports Ground”, which had been built in 1924, but vacated by the newspaper group in the early 1960s. A common sight at school rugby matches was the Headmaster, C R Bingham, driving his blue Rover across the grass at the Playing Fields and parking right by the pitch where the First XV were playing. In 1968 Mr. Bingham was replaced as Headmaster by Mr. B F Atherton. This heralded a more liberal regime. Hair became longer and some boys even sported beards ( sadly, I was still at the “ bum fluff “ stage ).

As my friends and I grew into our teenage years and we got a bit bolder, we began to socialise in the Mitcham area. Initially, some tentative forays inside Leo’s Milk Bar on London Road near The Cricket Green and, then, The Three Kings’ pub or, more regularly, The King’s Head ( more commonly known as The Burn Bullock ) pub by The Cricket Green where pints of Double Diamond were bravely supped. In the upstairs bar on a Friday evening, “Aunty Marjorie” ( a friend of my mother’s family and not a real aunt to any of us ) would belt out tunes on the “ old Joanna “ accompanied by the Grammar School boys ! There were also trips to “ the pictures “ ( first girlfriend time ), mostly to the Tooting Granada – there were four other cinemas in Tooting ( the Astoria, the Classic, the Mayfair and the Vogue ), or the Majestic at The Fair Green in Mitcham . Live music in the area at the time was rare , although The Granada had hosted many famous singers and bands in the 1950s and the early 1960s – Frank Sinatra ( his UK debut ), Johnny Ray, The Andrews Sisters, Pat Boone, Guy Mitchell, Cliff Richard and The Drifters (pre-Shadows days ), The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Gene Vincent (his UK debut), Dusty Springfield, James Brown, Roy Orbison, The Kinks, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and many more. The last concert at the historic venue was given by The Bee Gees in April 1968. Jerry Lee Lewis also ventured into Mitcham headlining two shows at The Majestic on 14th. May 1962, supported by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, The Viscounts, Vince Eager, The Echoes, Mark Eden, Danny Storm and Buddy Britten. My cousin, Barbara, was at The Beatles show at The Granada in 1963 but my first taste of live music was a trip to The Royal Albert Hall in 1969 to see Simon and Garfunkel.

We also made occasional forays to the Top Rank Suite in Croydon and The Bali Hai Discotheque in the Streatham Ice Rink in a ( largely vain ) attempt to meet girls. Slightly more successful were Monday Ballroom Dancing nights at the, more sedate but exotically named , Palais de Danse in London Road near Mitcham Station. Ballroom dancing even though this was, supposedly, “ The Swinging Sixties “ ! I regularly attended the St. Mark’s Youth Club in St. Mark’s Road for table tennis etc., followed by “ six of chips “ , ( 6d., 2 ½ p ), worth of chips, with a bit of “ crackling “, from Hutton’s Fish and Chip Shop at The Fair Green.
I left the Grammar School in July 1969 after completing my “ A “ Levels. This was also the end for the School ( established in 1922 ) as it then merged with Eastfields School on Grove Road, Mitcham on the old Mizen’s Nursery site, next to Pain’s Firework Factory ( which had relocated to Salisbury in 1966 ). The site in Commonside East was occupied by the St. Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic Primary School. Famous Old Boys of the Grammar School include the athlete Brian Hewson, who won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the European Championship in Stockholm in 1958 and represented Great Britain in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games and Alan Simpson ( who, sadly, died in 2017 ) of scriptwriting fame with Ray Galton ( “ Hancock “ and “ Steptoe and Son “ ). In 2012, I proposed to the Comedy Society of Great Britain that a plaque be erected at the site where Alan and Ray met in 1948 – the Milford Sanatorium, near Godalming, in Surrey, where they were both recovering from tuberculosis. The blue plaque was unveiled by Paul Merton, with Alan and Ray in attendance, on 1st. July 2013.

So, the decade of the 1960s came to an end – a much different world and a much different Mitcham from the start of the 1950s decade. World events during this period included the on-going Cold War and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the assassination of J F Kennedy, the discovery of DNA, the launch into space of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon. In Europe, the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1956 ( without UK participation ), forming The Common Market.

In the UK, 1951 saw The Festival of Britain on London’s South Bank as well as the defection of the Communist spies, Guy Burgess and Donald McLean, to the Soviet Union. In 1956 the repercussions of the Suez Crisis, and its links to the themes of imperialism and decolonisation, were a big topic of debate . Race riots took place in London’s Notting Hill and in Nottingham in 1958. The 1960s was a period of much liberalism – the relaxation of censorship laws (after the unsuccessful trial of D H Lawrence’s book, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover “, for obscenity ), the repeal of the death penalty and the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults. There were many societal changes in the fields of youth culture ( eg Teddy Boys ), fashion, music, class, consumerism, employment, industrial relations, immigration, race relations etc. The Profumo Affair in 1963 encapsulated many of the changes and another Communist spy, Kim Philby, defected to the Soviet Union that year. And, of course, England won the World Cup in 1966 ! In politics, the 1950s started with a Labour Government, under the leadership of Clement Attlee, and the end of the 1960s also saw a Labour Government in power, under the leadership of Harold Wilson. In the intervening years, the country had seen 13 years of Conservative government, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold MacMillan and Alec Douglas Home.

And Mitcham saw changes too. Its status changed from being a Municipal Borough of North East Surrey to being a constituent part of The London Borough of Merton in 1965, a result of the Local Government Act of 1963. Many old buildings were demolished, often being replaced by new housing developments, such as the Phipps Bridge Estate. The gas works in Western Road closed in 1960. The Majestic Cinema on the corner of St. Mark’s Road had shown its last films, “ Pit of Darkness “ starring William Franklyn and “ What A Whopper “ starring Adam Faith, in November 1961. The building then housed the Alpha Bingo Club. And the seemingly interminable debate about the traffic at the Fair Green continued !

Jeff Brooks
January 2022